SOME USEFUL INFORMATION

The chronicle of the Acropolis of Athens can be traced back to the Bronze Age – Mycenaean times. The Acropolis in Greek means “the highest point of the city”. Like Mycenae and Tyrins, the Athenian citadel became synonymous with the word in the minds of most people during the last two millennia.

The Mycenaean civilization established many important centers, one of which was Athens. The first inhabitants we can trace to the Acropolis of Athens were Mycenaean Kings who fortified the rock with massive eight-meter tall walls, and built their palaces there in the 14th century BCE. Very little remains from these buildings today, but the most obvious evidence of this era is still visible at the southwest end of the Acropolis, right behind the later Temple of Athena Nike, next to the Propylaia, in the form of a cyclopean wall that was built as part of the fortifications.

Most of the Mycenaean centers were destroyed around 1200 BCE. It was King Theseus who managed to unite the surrounding towns into an administrative entity, along with King Kordos’s heroic personal sacrifice to keep Athens inhabited and active.

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Historical Chronology

Greek Art & Archaeology

(Nigel Spivey,Greek Art, Phaidon, 1997)

Neolithic Age in Greece lasted from 6800 to 3200 BCE

3000 BCE – Cycladic figurines

Early Bronze Age (2900 – 2000BCE)

Minoan Age(2000 – 1400 BCE)

Early Minoan period (c.3000-2200 BCE),The Middle Minoan period (c.2200-1500 BCE) and the Late Minoan period (c.1500-1000 BCE).

Hellenistic Period (336-146 BC)

The Graeco–Roman Period (332 BCE -395 CE / AD) marks the end of Persian rule over Egypt. The Persians (who came from what is now Iran) were defeated by the Greek conqueror, Alexander the Great, who occupied Egypt and founded a new capital city at Alexandria.